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The Greatest Recommendation You Could Ever Share

Many people love to share their experiences. They leave a review on Yelp sharing whether they would recommend a restaurant, or not, and why. They read a good book, and then go to work the next day and recommend it to a half dozen people. They post on Facebook about the latest home remedy they just tried and now swear by. They may overhear that someone needs a dentist and they are quick to recommend theirs in a heartbeat. Millions of people share their experiences, and reviews of those experiences, every day.

Although reviews come quickly for restaurants, vacation destinations, and good deals on getting a used car, when it comes to sharing about the most important recommendation we can ever give, our faith, many remain conspicuously quiet. If we found the perfect restaurant, that served the most delicious food, and was unbelievably cheap, we would recommend it to every person we knew. In fact, we would probably go into work the next day and literally rave about the spectacular service and fantastic Banoffee Pie. However, for those who believe and follow Christ, who have received the free gift of eternal life, who have literally had their life changed, and who have experienced something far greater than getting great meal at a great price, we rarely share about our experience.

Think about that for moment. When it comes to our favorite ice cream stand we recommend it to friends, take friends to there all summer long, and post pictures of ourselves there on Instagram eating Moose Tracks out of giant waffle cone. However, when it comes to our faith, our belief in Christ, or even our church, many of us never bring it up with others. We don’t mention it to the coworkers we spend eight hours a day with. We don’t mention it to friends we share our lives with. We rarely even ever go there in conversation with family.

Maybe its because we don’t know that we are supposed to. Perhaps churches are not preaching on evangelism and on sharing our faith, so we don’t know that we should. Maybe we don’t know how, because churches are not teaching on how to share our faith. Maybe it is because we don’t have many great role models for sharing our faith, because even pastors are not leading the way and telling others about Christ. These are all valid possibilities, and are no doubt true in some churches, but I think their are actually three other reasons people don’t share their faith:

1. We do not really believe what we believe. Most Christians say they believe in a literal hell. A hell that is a place of eternal punishment, torment and separation from God and all that is good. Yet, if we really believed that, and believed that our friends and family without Christ were going to spend eternity there forever, I think that would cause us to share our faith more vigorously.

2. What we believe has become routine. We wake up on a Sunday, go to church for 75 or 90 minutes, sing some songs, listen to a sermon, chat with some friends in the foyer, go home and watch the football game. Church, faith, and God is only a small part of our life and our weekly routine. It’s not really something that is important to us so it never comes up in our daily lives.

3. We don’t really love other people. If we believe in hell, but don’t warn other people about it, then we need to ask whether we love the people around us or not. If we won’t take the time to tell them about eternal damnation, you have to wonder if we even care.

I am sure there are other reasons people don’t share their faith more often, but for Christians, who say they have had this most wonderful experience, we do have to wonder why they don’t talk about their faith more often. The greatest recommendation a Christian could ever share is Christ. So, who have you recommended Him to recently?